Butler County neighborhoods see spate of sick raccoons
Multiple residents in southern Butler County over the last month have reported encounters with raccoons which appear to have an unknown illnesses — possibly rabies. At least one raccoon got into a fight with a dog, according to a report from one resident of Mars, while multiple raccoons have been killed.
Valencia resident Regan Thompson, who lives in the John Quincy Adams neighborhood, described an encounter with two of these raccoons roughly three weeks ago. Thompson said one of the raccoons managed to climb over a protective fence and into their backyard, while another was sick and dying on their front lawn.
“I called the game commission, and they came within 10 minutes and shot both and took them with them,” Thompson said. “They also told me that they do not test them unless someone was bit.”
The first reports of the raccoons came from the Weatherburn Heights neighborhood in Valencia, and residents of other parts of Adams Township and surrounding municipalities have reported similar events.
Realtor Tamara Funari reported encountering a raccoon in the Sunrise Acres neighborhood of Adams Township.
“We called animal control, but by the time someone got here, the raccoon left,” Funari said.
Mars resident Lauren Nese, who lives in the Cypress Fields neighborhood, reported she’s had encounters with no less than three raccoons in a span of two months.
“We actually had one in Cypress Fields about six weeks ago that the police had to put down, and then another one two days later on a street across from our neighborhood,” Nese wrote. She said the second one also was put down.
“Two weeks after these incidents, my dog got into a fight with a raccoon that came into our fenced-in yard,” Nese wrote. “Thankfully (my dog) is all right.”
One resident also reported a sick raccoon recently made its way to Center Township, north of Butler.
“There was a sick one on Sunset Drive,” wrote Steven Jones. “It would sit in the middle of the street and wouldn’t move for cars. It would eventually walk back into the wood line. It was run over at the beginning of the week and it is still there as roadkill.”
Many of these accounts share some similarities, detailing unusual patterns of behavior. Thompson reports that one of the raccoons they saw took a swim in her house’s inground pool, randomly dug at the ground, and showed no reaction to the presence of their two dogs.
“Judging by the strange way the one acted, I do not think it was just a regular illness,” Thompson said. “They seemed mentally ‘off’.”
So far in 2024, according to statistics gathered by the state, there have been 249 reported positive cases of rabies in animals in Pennsylvania, including 89 cases in raccoons. However, only two animals in Butler County have tested positive for rabies so far this year — one raccoon and one bat.
Animals with rabies are known to exhibit symptoms of excitability, including attacking anything that moves and foaming at the mouth. However, they have also been known to appear spaced out and not react to anything around them.
